Philosophy of culture

It traces the development of cultural thought from early modern discussions on national identity and Enlightenment ideals, through German and English Romanticism, to more scientific approaches.

He proposed that a scientific comparison of all human societies would reveal that distinct worldviews consisted of the same basic elements.

In the 19th century, humanists such as English poet and essayist Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) used the word "culture" to refer to an ideal of individual human refinement, of "the best that has been thought and said in the world.

"[4] In practice, culture referred to an élite ideal and was associated with such activities as art, classical music, and haute cuisine.

In other words, the idea of "culture" that developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries reflected inequalities within European societies.

According to Hobbes and Rousseau, the Native Americans who were being conquered by Europeans from the 16th centuries on were living in a state of nature; this opposition was expressed through the contrast between "civilized" and "uncivilized."

In 1870 the anthropologist Edward Tylor (1832–1917) applied these ideas of higher versus lower culture to propose a theory of the evolution of religion.